Tail negative dependence and its applications for aggregate loss modeling

Tail order of copulas can be used to describe the strength of dependence in the tails of a joint distribution. When the value of tail order is larger than the dimension, it may lead to tail negative dependence. First, we prove results on conditions that lead to tail negative dependence for Archimedean copulas. Using the conditions, we construct new parametric copula families that possess upper tail negative dependence. Among them, a copula based on a scale mixture with a generalized gamma random variable (GGS copula) is useful for modeling asymmetric tail negative dependence. We propose mixed copula regression based on the GGS copula for aggregate loss modeling of a medical expenditure panel survey dataset. For this dataset, we find that there exists upper tail negative dependence between loss frequency and loss severity, and the introduction of tail negative dependence structures significantly improves the aggregate loss modeling.     

基于双参数Copula沪港股市的相关性分析

通过双参数Copula分析上证指数和恒生指数的尾部相关性,并与单参数Copula及混合Copula进行比较分析,参数估计使用半参数估计法,结果表明:与单参数Clayton Copula、Gumbel-Hougaard Copula以及由两者组成的混合Copula相比,双参数BB1 Copula对数据具有更好的拟合效果;且通过分析发现两股市的上尾相关性大于下尾相关性.     

Tail order and intermediate tail dependence of multivariate copulas

In order to study copula families that have tail patterns and tail asymmetry different from multivariate Gaussian and t copulas, we introduce the concepts of tail order and tail order functions. These provide an integrated way to study both tail dependence and intermediate tail dependence. Some fundamental properties of tail order and tail order functions are obtained. For the multivariate Archimedean copula, we relate the tail heaviness of a positive random variable to the tail behavior of the Archimedean copula constructed from the Laplace transform of the random variable, and extend the results of Charpentier and Segers [7] [A. Charpentier, J. Segers, Tails of multivariate Archimedean copulas, Journal of Multivariate Analysis 100 (7) (2009) 1521–1537] for upper tails of Archimedean copulas. In addition, a new one-parameter Archimedean copula family based on the Laplace transform of the inverse Gamma distribution is proposed; it possesses patterns of upper and lower tails not seen in commonly used copula families. Finally, tail orders are studied for copulas constructed from mixtures of max-infinitely divisible copulas.     

Distorted Mix Method for constructing copulas with tail dependence

This paper introduces a method for constructing copula functions by combining the ideas of distortion and convex sum, named Distorted Mix Method. The method mixes different copulas with distorted margins to construct new copula functions, and it enables us to model the dependence structure of risks by handling the central and tail parts separately. By applying the method we can modify the tail dependence of a given copula to any desired level measured by tail dependence function and tail dependence coefficients of marginal distributions. As an application, a tight bound for asymptotic Value-at-Risk of order statistics is obtained by using the method. An empirical study shows that copulas constructed by this method fit the empirical data of SPX 500 Index and FTSE 100 Index very well in both central and tail parts.     

Lower tail dependence for Archimedean copulas: Characterizations and pitfalls

Tail dependence copulas provide a natural perspective from which one can study the dependence in the tail of a multivariate distribution. For Archimedean copulas with continuously differentiable generators, regular variation of the generator near the origin is known to be closely connected to convergence of the lower tail dependence copulas to the Clayton copula. In this paper, these characterizations are refined and extended to the case of generators which are not necessarily continuously differentiable. Moreover, a counterexample is constructed showing that even if the generator of a strict Archimedean copula is continuously differentiable and slowly varying at the origin, then the lower tail dependence copulas still do not need to converge to the independent copula.     

Tail dependence of the Gaussian copula revisited

Tail dependence refers to clustering of extreme events. In the context of financial risk management, the clustering of high-severity risks has a devastating effect on the well-being of firms and is thus of pivotal importance in risk analysis.When it comes to quantifying the extent of tail dependence, it is generally agreed that measures of tail dependence must be independent of the marginal distributions of the risks but rather solely copula-dependent. Indeed, all classical measures of tail dependence are such, but they investigate the amount of tail dependence along the main diagonal of copulas, which has often little in common with the concentration of extremes in the copulas’ domain of definition.In this paper we urge that the classical measures of tail dependence may underestimate the level of tail dependence in copulas. For the Gaussian copula, however, we prove that the classical measures are maximal. The implication of the result is two-fold: On the one hand, it means that in the Gaussian case, the (weak) measures of tail dependence that have been reported and used are of utmost prudence, which must be a reassuring news for practitioners. On the other hand, it further encourages substitution of the Gaussian copula with other copulas that are more tail dependent.     

Tail dependence functions and vine copulas

Tail dependence and conditional tail dependence functions describe, respectively, the tail probabilities and conditional tail probabilities of a copula at various relative scales. The properties as well as the interplay of these two functions are established based upon their homogeneous structures. The extremal dependence of a copula, as described by its extreme value copulas, is shown to be completely determined by its tail dependence functions. For a vine copula built from a set of bivariate copulas, its tail dependence function can be expressed recursively by the tail dependence and conditional tail dependence functions of lower-dimensional margins. The effect of tail dependence of bivariate linking copulas on that of a vine copula is also investigated.     

On a bivariate copula with both upper and lower full-range tail dependence

Copula functions can be useful in accounting for various dependence patterns appearing in joint tails of data. We propose a new two-parameter bivariate copula family that possesses the following features. First, both upper and lower tails are able to explain full-range tail dependence. That is, the dependence in each tail can range among quadrant tail independence, intermediate tail dependence, and usual tail dependence. Second, it can capture upper and lower tail dependence patterns that are either the same or different. We first prove the full-range tail dependence property, and then we obtain the corresponding extreme value copula. There are two applications based on the proposed copula. The first one is modeling pairwise dependence between financial markets. The second one is modeling dynamic tail dependence patterns that appear in upper and lower tails of a loss-and-expense data.     

Operator Tail Dependence of Copulas

A notion of tail dependence based on operator regular variation is introduced for copulas, and the standard tail dependence used in the copula literature is included as a special case. The non-standard tail dependence with marginal power scaling functions having possibly distinct tail indexes is investigated in detail. We show that the copulas with operator tail dependence, incorporated with regularly varying univariate margins, give rise to a rich class of the non-standard multivariate regularly varying distributions. We also show that under some mild conditions, the copula of a non-standard multivariate regularly varying distribution has the standard tail dependence of order 1. Some illustrative examples are given.     

Modeling defaults with nested Archimedean copulas

In 2001, Schönbucher and Schubert extended Li’s well-known Gaussian copula model for modeling dependent defaults to allow for tail dependence. Instead of the Gaussian copula, Schönbucher and Schubert suggested to use Archimedean copulas. These copulas are able to capture tail dependence and therefore allow a standard intensity-based default model to have a positive probability of joint defaults within a short time period. As can be observed in the current financial crisis, this is an indispensable feature of any realistic default model. Another feature, motivated by empirical observations but rarely taken into account in default models, is that modeled portfolio components affected by defaults show significantly different levels of dependence depending on whether they belong to the same industry sector or not. The present work presents an extension of the model suggested by Schönbucher and Schubert to account for this fact. For this, nested Archimedean copulas are applied. As an application, the pricing of collateralized debt obligations is treated. Since the resulting loss distribution is not analytical tractable, fast sampling algorithms for nested Archimedean copulas are developed. Such algorithms boil down to sampling certain distributions given by their Laplace-Stieltjes transforms. For a large range of nested Archimedean copulas, efficient sampling techniques can be derived. Moreover, a general transformation of an Archimedean generator allows to construct and sample the corresponding nested Archimedean copulas.     

Asymmetric extreme interdependence in emerging equity markets

We assess the extent of integration between stock markets during stressful periods using the concept of copulas. Our methodology consists of fitting copulas to simultaneous exceedances of high thresholds, and computing copula‐based measures of interdependence and contagion. Using 21 pairs of emerging stock markets daily returns, we investigate if dependence increases with crisis, and analyse the chances of both markets crashing together. Dependence at joint positive and negative extreme returns levels may differ. This type of asymmetry is captured by the upper and lower tail dependence coefficients. Propagation of crisis may be faster in one direction, and this feature is captured by asymmetric copulas. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extreme value properties of multivariate t copulas

The extremal dependence behavior of t copulas is examined and their extreme value limiting copulas, called the t-EV copulas, are derived explicitly using tail dependence functions. As two special cases, the Hüsler–Reiss and the Marshall–Olkin distributions emerge as limits of the t-EV copula as the degrees of freedom go to infinity and zero respectively. The t copula and its extremal variants attain a wide range in the set of bivariate tail dependence parameters. Supported by NSERC Discovery Grant.     

Archimedean-based Marshall-Olkin Distributions and Related Dependence Structures

In this paper we study the dependence properties of a family of bivariate distributions (that we call Archimedean-based Marshall-Olkin distributions) that extends the class of the Generalized Marshall-Olkin distributions of Li and Pellerey, J Multivar Anal, 102, (10), 1399–1409, 2011 in order to allow for an Archimedean type of dependence among the underlying shocks’ arrival times. The associated family of copulas (that we call Archimedean-based Marshall-Olkin copulas) includes several well known copula functions as specific cases for which we provide a different costruction and represents a particular case of implementation of Morillas, Metrika, 61, (2), 169–184, 2005 construction. It is shown that Archimedean-based copulas are obtained through suitable transformations of bivariate Archimedean copulas: this induces asymmetry, and the corresponding Kendall’s function and Kendall’s tau as well as the tail dependence parameters are studied. The type of dependence so modeled is wide and illustrated through examples and the validity of the weak Lack of memory property (characterizing the Marshall-Olkin distribution) is also investigated and the sub-family of distributions satisfying it identified. Moreover, the main theoretical results are extended to the multidimensional version of the considered distributions and estimation issues discussed.     

Dependence structure of conditional Archimedean copulas

In this article, copulas associated to multivariate conditional distributions in an Archimedean model are characterized. It is shown that this popular class of dependence structures is closed under the operation of conditioning, but that the associated conditional copula has a different analytical form in general. It is also demonstrated that the extremal copula for conditional Archimedean distributions is no longer the Fréchet upper bound, but rather a member of the Clayton family. Properties of these conditional distributions as well as conditional versions of tail dependence indices are also considered.     

Quantile Function Expansion Using Regularly Varying Functions

We present a simple result that allows us to evaluate the asymptotic order of the remainder of a partial asymptotic expansion of the quantile function h(u) as u → 0⁺ or 1^?. This is focussed on important univariate distributions when h(?) has no simple closed form, with a view to assessing asymptotic rate of decay to zero of tail dependence in the context of bivariate copulas. Motivation of this study is illustrated by the asymptotic behaviour of the tail dependence of Normal copula. The Normal, Skew-Normal and Gamma are used as initial examples. Finally, we discuss approximation to the lower quantile of the Variance-Gamma and Skew-Slash distributions.     

A New Graphical Tool for Copula Selection

The selection of copulas is an important aspect of dependence modeling. In many practical applications, only a limited number of copulas is tested, and the modeling applications usually are restricted to the bivariate case. One explanation is the fact that no graphical copula tool exists that allows us to assess the goodness-of-fit of a large set of (possible higher-dimensional) copula functions at once. This article seeks to overcome this problem by developing a new graphical tool for the copula selection, based on a statistical analysis technique called “principal coordinate analysis.” The advantage is three-fold. First, when projecting the empirical copula of a modeling application on a two-dimensional (2D) copula space, it allows us to visualize the fit of a whole collection of multivariate copulas at once. Second, the visual tool allows us to identify “search” directions for potential fit improvements (e.g., through the use of copula transforms). Finally, the tool makes it also possible to give a 2D visual overview of a large number of known copula families, leading to a better understanding and a more efficient use of the different copula families. The robustness of the new graphical tool is investigated by means of a small simulation study, and the practical use of the tool is demonstrated for two 2D and two 3D (three-dimensional) fitting examples. MATLAB code through the examples is available online in the supplementary materials.     

基于Copula函数的股指尾部相关性研究——以道琼斯工业指数与恒生指数为例

鉴于两步参数估计法在应用中存在误差大、计算复杂等缺陷,采用基于经验分布的半参数估计与非参数估计法确定相应边缘分布与Copula参数,对突发事件下的道琼斯工业指数与恒生指数之间的尾部相关性进行量化.研究发现ClaytonCopula,Gumbel Copula能够较好地刻画股指收益率序列间的尾部相关关系;道指与恒生指数存在着正的尾部相关且这种相关是非对称性的;在各个置信水平上,下尾损失均较上尾收益高,且下尾相关系数的增长幅度远大于上尾相关系数的增长幅度;极端事件造成的道指收益的剧烈下跌引发了恒生指数收益更强烈的相关反应,其造成的影响远超过两个市场同时上涨时的作用.     

多变量极值理论在银行操作风险度量中的运用

针对银行操作风险损失分布的厚尾性和损失事件之间的尾部相依性,首先用单变量极值理论建立了单个损失事件计量模型,然后用多变量极值的连接函数反映了损失事件之间的尾部相依性,避免了计量中对银行操作风险的低估和对监管资本要求高估.     

Modeling multi-country mortality dependence and its application in pricing survivor index swaps—A dynamic copula approach

This paper introduces mortality dependence in multi-country mortality modeling using a dynamic copula approach. Specifically, we use time-varying copula models to capture the mortality dependence structure across countries, examining both symmetric and asymmetric dependence structures. In addition, to capture the phenomenon of a heavy tail for the multi-country mortality index, we consider not only the setting of Gaussian innovations but also non-Gaussian innovations under the Lee–Carter framework model. As tests of the goodness of fit of different dynamic copula models, the pattern of mortality dependence, and the distribution of the innovations, we used empirical mortality data from Finland, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. To understand the effect of mortality dependence on longevity derivatives, we also built a valuation framework for pricing a survivor index swap, then investigated the fair swap rates of a survivor swap numerically. We demonstrate that failing to consider the dynamic copula mortality model and non-Gaussian innovations would lead to serious underestimations of the swap rates and loss reserves.     

Upper comonotonicity

In this article, we study a new notion called upper comonotonicity, which is a generalization of the classical notion of comonotonicity. A random vector is upper-comonotonic if its components are moving in the same direction simultaneously when their values are greater than some thresholds. We provide a characterization of this new notion in terms of both the joint distribution function and the underlying copula. The copula characterization allows us to study the coefficient of upper tail dependence as well as the distributional representation of an upper-comonotonic random vector. As an application to financial economics, we show that the several commonly used risk measures, like the Value-at-Risk, the Tail Value-at-Risk, and the expected shortfall, are additive, not only for sum of comonotonic risks, but also for sum of upper-comonotonic risks, provided that the level of probability is greater than a certain threshold.